Beer Tasting

On Saturday, November 15th I joined my brothers at a beer tasting at the Society Room, a well-appointed shebeen in Hartford, CT in honor of my brother Chris's birthday. It was a fantastic opportunity to hang out with my bros, talk beer with pros, and--naturally--sample the suds. All of the big craft breweries were represented, along with quite a few small Massachusetts, Connecticut and even Westchester (New York) breweries. Despite strong showings from the likes of Dogfish Head's Pangaea (sweet, a hint of cinnamon), Blue Point brewery's Winter Ale (a healthy Scotch ale), and Sierra Nevada's Harvest Ale (an English-style ale with a soothing earthiness), my hands-down favorites were pretty much the entire Victory line. Specifically, I tried the Prima Pils (pils is a stretch here--it's too rich and hoppy, but tasty nonetheless), the Golden Monkey (the quintessential Belgian abbey ale--rom a US brewery!),
Hopdevil (the name says it all) and the Storm King Stout (bitter chocolate and rich coffee).


I must give the hugest honorable mention, though to everything from Schmaltz Brewery, particularly their Coney Island Albino Python. This beer was literally like no other I have ever tasted, not least because it incorporates fennel and ginger into the brewing process.

Trout and Leeks

When I went to my local fish market yesterday the least expensive thing they had next to cod was trout filets. I picked up a pound and wondered how I would make this typically bland protein sing. Over the next 24 hours I hit on a plan: I would season the filets, bake them in foil and serve them over leeks, parsnips and a fancy rice blend.

The rice was a no brainer--we just followed the directions on the package and proceeded with the rest of the meal.

The key to the whole dish was the leeks and parsnips and Nina took the lead on this part of the dish. The first step was to slice both very thinly. Then she sauteed the parsnips in a healthy dose of oil until they started to turn transparent. At that point she added the leeks and allowed the mixture to sautee until the parsnips were well carmelized and were sticking to the bottom of the cast iron frying pan. Once the leeks were also transparent she removed the mixture from the heat and kept it on warm.

In the meantime Nina grated two tablespoons of ginger and sliced a lemon into thin slices. She then took the filets and placed about a tablespoon of thin butter slices on them, spread the ginger over them, and placed two lemon slices on each. She then wrapped the filets in foil and pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. When the oven was hot she baked the fish for about 20 minutes.

We plated the meal by first laying down a bed of rice, then a layer of leeks and parsnips, and finally the fish on top. It was a bit tricky to get the filets on there in one piece, but with two spatulas we managed.